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Malkavian
"Malkavians are… interesting. There's something to them. Learning to sort the wisdom from the bullshit can be some work and not all of them are worth listening to, but they're all good fun if you ask me." Malkavians' are cursed to be mentally damaged in some way, never able to overcome the derangment. Common afflictions are: schizophrenia, bi-polar, OCD, severe ADD, dellusional, strong obsessions, and phobias. While they immediately acquire this new derangment, it does not preclude them from developing others in the future, and a Malkavian cursed with multiple afflictions is a poor soul indeed. Somehow, Malkavians are able to channel their instability into a discipline called Dementation. Dementation is to emotions and the psyche as Majesty is to charisma and personal charm. At it's lower echelons, Dementation can inspire a powerful emotional state, greatly enhancing a mild excitement, or almost completely dull even a murderous rage. Furthermore, due to Malkavians' reunification, Sebastian, their progenitor, has wittingly or unwittingly rebound them into a subconscious network. Dubbed 'The Malkavian Madness Network' it allows those who are practiced and determined to access it in some ways, able to call upon knowledge known by another malkavian in rare moments. Those who know how can find other malkavians through the web, and rumors circulate of particularly skilled individuals even able to access the minds of others while lucid. The Clan On the surface, clan Malkavian is barely a clan. The majority of Malkavians are only marginally aware they belong to a clan; Sabbat Malkavians generally claim to be Panders. What connections Malkavians generally have are informal and generally paternal, sire-childe relationships being the most common, although Malkavian sires are prone to abandoning their childer. Scratch the surface, however, and the Malkavians become a smörgåsbord of paranoid delights. Malkavians operate on their own timescale, and will gather spontaneously for incomprehensible events. Malkavians usually don't explain how they know these gatherings are occurring, and when they do the explanation isn't necessarily worth anything. Scratch deep enough and it appears that the Malkavians are highly organized, so highly organized they don't even know they are, and instead they continue to pursue incomprehensible and arcane goals that even they aren't aware are relevant. This organization is generally termed the "cobweb", "Malkavian Time" or the "Malkavian Madness Network" and is a form of shared consciousness unifying all Malkavians. The strength of the voices varies from Malkavian to Malkavian, however all of them are at least aware of its call and capable of interacting with it. Dead Malkavians' memories live on in the cobweb, and it is implied heavily that Malkav himself is this network. The cobweb is only accessible by Malkavians, and they themselves only marginally understand it - most of them merely listen to the voices, but elders have demonstrated a powerful capacity to manipulate the rest of the clan through it. Malkavians have traditionally fulfilled two roles in Vampire society: seers and jokers. In the former role, the Malkavians have relied on advanced Auspex and the Cobweb to provide information. Malkavians being Malkavians, this information is generally jaundiced, incomplete, filtered through cracked lenses or a total lie. The joker role is somewhat more complex: Malkavians have a clan tradition of pranking. The exact purpose of these pranks is open to debate; they often appear intended to readjust the target's perceptions, but are also often sadistic. In the Camarilla, Malkavians are tolerated; they are rarely princes but often are important primogen or otherwise figures of authority. Given their obvious insanity, princes traditionally give the Madmen a certain amount of latitude; in return, Malkavians are generally expected to demonstrate enough self-control to not break the Masquerade. This is not a benevolent arrangement but largely driven by fear on both sides: fundamentally, Malkavians are unknowable and the general attitude among princes is that its better to keep them quiet and happy, since unhappy Malkavians have a tendency towards introducing bizarre and inexplicable incidents to the equation. Conversely, Malkavians need the protection of the Camarilla, and have been modified as discussed above to make them more amenable to it. The Malkavians are one of the more intellectually focused of the Camarilla clans (with the Tremere arguably being the only clan as interested in cerebral pursuits). As a result, Malkavian candidates for the Embrace tend to be intelligent and more than a little...odd. While the Malkavian embrace guarantees insanity, they do tend to choose candidates who are already halfway there. Mechanical Systems Malkavians have acess to Auspex, Dementation and Obfuscate as in clan disciplines. Cammarilla Malkavians also boast more then a passing knowledge of Dominate thanks to the hundreds of years the discipline was in clan for them. Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Dementation, Obfuscate. Favored attributes: Manipulation or Wits. Weakness: All malkavians are mad in some way. Some show it more then others but every last one is crazy, and the more they fight it the crazier they get. Bloodlines Carriers The carriers are Camarilla Malkavians who were spared the full force of Sebastians "reintigration." They still have a maddness to them, much like the rest of the clan, but tend to be more "high functioning." They also have no access to the Madness Network or to Dementation, instead still practiceing Dominate. Antitribu The Malkavians of the Sabbat can be the worst of the bunch. Their maddness has a particularly vicious edge, and they tend to weild it like a terrible weapon. So awful are these malkavians that their bretheren tend to keep them locked up until they are needed and simply unleash them like horrible weapons of mass hysteria. The Malkavian antitribu are, if possible, even more insane than their Camarilla sibling. This is in no small part due to the brutal (un)living conditions associated with being a member of the Sabbat. Malkavians in Portland In 1998 Sebastian Everett Munreaux obtained the Throne of Bones and claimed the site of power for himself. A short few months later an event took place that many have come to call "The Great Prank" where when for reasons unknown to anyone, the discipline of Dementation resurfaced within the Camarilla, and The Madness Network was renewed and reinvigorated. Kindred generally view coincidence skeptically. Ever since then Malkavians have been flocking to Portland. Nearly everyone believes this has something to do with acts of Sebastian however nobody save the man himself knows if this act was purposeful on his part. Known Malkavians in the Portland/Vancouver area include: Sebastian, Zacharie, Nick, Derrick, Ben, Ryan, Travis, Ophelia, Big Henry, Salvador, Roderick, Lynn Cho, Gina Castillo, Delia Fuller, Lola, Lynette Hill, Savitri Misra, Kanya. Category:Clans/Bloodlines